Image by Cameron Booth used with permission.

It's time for the first-ever World Cup of Transit Maps! Portland-based transit graphic designer Cameron Booth has chosen 32 metro systems from cities around the world and placed them in a bracket of four groups of eight. Voters are asked to consider the design of the “current official transit map for each city as found on the agency’s website,” and decide which of the two maps is best based on their own criteria.

Image by Cameron Booth used with permission.

The process may be unscientific, but that doesn't mean it's not a lot of fun. Booth, who also curates a transit maps Tumblr that features maps and diagrams from around the world, says the systems he chose represent a wide range of design. The contenders include 12 cities from the Americas, 12 from Europe, and 8 from Asia.

“The Red and Blue Lines contain cities from the Americas, while the Green and Orange Lines are comprised of European cities,” Booth, an Australian native, writes. “The eight Asian cities have been spread evenly across the four groups and seeded so that they can’t knock each other out before the quarter finals (if they make it that far!).”

On Thursday, DC went head to head with São Paulo:

Things got heated when São Paulo's official Metro tweeted about the competition:

Unfortunately for WMATA fans, there was no corresponding tweet from our Metro account, and São Paulo moved forward in the competition.

Friday, April 6 has Beijing versus Toronto in the morning, and Berlin up against Madrid starting at noon. You can find the full rules and explanations here, and a blank bracket here.

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Tagged: maps, sao paulo, transit, wmata

Julie Strupp was Greater Greater Washington's Managing Editor from 2017 to 2019. Previously, she had written for DCist, Washingtonian, the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, and others. You can usually find her sparring with her judo club, pedaling around the city, or hanging out on her Columbia Heights stoop.